


say hello; wave goodbye

by coffeesuperhero



Series: Family Pond 'verse [8]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-23
Updated: 2011-11-23
Packaged: 2017-10-26 16:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/285344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeesuperhero/pseuds/coffeesuperhero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>Disclaimers</b>:  This isn't for profit, just for fun. All characters & situations belong to Russell T. Davies, Stephen Moffat, BBC, and their various subsidiaries. Title from a song by David Gray, which I also had nothing to do with.<br/><b>A/N</b>: Spoilers for everything current, just in case. It is important to note that I have seen 3 eps of Torchwood ever, and while I have endeavored to sync this silly story up with all the timelines of everything, well, I play fast & loose with timelines on a good day, so just consider it an AU for DW & TW.</p>
    </blockquote>





	say hello; wave goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimers** : This isn't for profit, just for fun. All characters & situations belong to Russell T. Davies, Stephen Moffat, BBC, and their various subsidiaries. Title from a song by David Gray, which I also had nothing to do with.  
>  **A/N** : Spoilers for everything current, just in case. It is important to note that I have seen 3 eps of Torchwood ever, and while I have endeavored to sync this silly story up with all the timelines of everything, well, I play fast & loose with timelines on a good day, so just consider it an AU for DW & TW.

Today has really not gone according to plan. It was supposed to be a holiday, which Jack had convinced himself he deserved after this many years of saving the Earth from various disasters, and then, somehow, the whole R&R thing he'd had planned, and oh, he'd had _plans_ , gets quickly shuffled to the side after he finds himself wrapped up in some alien plot to take over the world, or possibly end the world, or hell, maybe both, and why not? He wishes they'd just killed him instead of knocked him out and concussed him. At least then his head wouldn't have hurt so damn much when he came to. He groans a little and rubs his temples.

"Are you all right, then?" a voice asks, and he opens his eyes to see a gorgeous redhead leaning over him.

"I am now," he says, looking her over, and she rolls her eyes, but she helps him to his feet anyway.

"Well then, now that you're ambulatory," she says, making a gesture of oh-good-now-that's-over-with, "how do you feel about escaping? Because I feel fairly good about it, but of course if you'd rather stay here, I won't force you to tag along."

"I'm on board," he assures her. He'd follow a pretty face most anywhere, and she's pretty everywhere.

"Fantastic," she says, and if that one word doesn't sound familiar enough, she then proceeds to pull an even more familiar tool from her pocket.

"Wait," he says, staring. "Hang on, you've got a sonic screwdriver?"

"No, I certainly don't," she snaps, waving it about haphazardly. "Why does everyone call it that? That's a ridiculous name. Do you know what a screwdriver does? Of course you do, who doesn't. It unscrews tiny little pieces of metal, or, if you have the patience, it screws tiny pieces of metal into other things. _This_ is not nearly that limited in application. It's a scanner and a spanner and a screwdriver and any other number of things! It is _not_ merely a sonic screwdriver, it is a sonic multi-tool, and I'll thank everyone to stop calling it the other thing just because some stuffy old man from Gallifrey has one."

"Fair point," Jack says, and she nods her thanks and sets about scanning their cell. He trots out an old line, just to see what she'll say. "I mean, who looks at a screwdriver and thinks it could be a little more sonic?"

She stops scanning for a moment and gestures approvingly. "Exactly! I think we're going to be friends, you and I," she declares, and he laughs.

"You got a name, sweetheart?"

She looks at him for longer than is probably necessary, and it reminds him, he realizes suddenly, of the Doctor, or maybe of River Song, or maybe a little of both. Now there's a deliciously dangerous combination. This is going to be a very interesting afternoon.

"Andromeda," she says finally, her voice measured.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he says, offering her his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm sure it is," she says, and he laughs again. "So, do you find yourself in these situations often?"

"You'd be surprised," he says, shrugging, but she just shakes her head.

"I probably wouldn't," she replies. "Let's see. I think I can reroute the power from their generator and fry the lock on this circuit. Have us out of here in no time. Well, some time, obviously. There's always some time involved."

"Right," he says, raising an eyebrow. She even talks like the Doctor, her hands flying around to emphasize whatever crazy thing she's saying, that same manic Time Lord energy animating her features. It would be just like the Doctor to have regenerated into a woman and try and pretend not to know him, but he doesn't really think that's what this is: she genuinely doesn't seem to know who he is.

She's tinkering with the circuitry, and he slouches comfortably against the bars, watching her. Occasionally, this monogamy experiment is something of a drag, but at least Ianto doesn't seem to mind if he flirts with the other mortals, or, as he is currently doing, checks them out.

"Take a good long look if you like," she says, interrupting his thoughts. She stares at him knowingly, and there it is again, that flash of something familiar. Come to think of it, the one and only time he's ever had the pleasure of meeting River Song, she gave him that exact look. "You have absolutely no chance."

He grins at her. "Wouldn't dream of asking for anything."

"I have a feeling you certainly would," she says, laughing, and then suddenly there's a pop and a hiss and the door slides open. "Aha!"

"Shall we?" he says, offering her his arm, just for a laugh, but she doesn't take it.

"I might need my hands," she drawls after a moment, and he has half a mind to offer her a job at Torchwood, no questions asked. He wonders if she'd take it. They could use somebody who's good with gadgets. And if she's good with her hands, well, _that's fine too_ , naturally, and now she's rolling her eyes at him. "Whatever you're thinking, do stop thinking it, or at least put it on pause so we can go and save the day, all right?"

"Pause it is," he jokes, and she laughs.

"Humans," she says cheerfully, and off they go.

They do save the day, and with minimal effort, really. There's hardly even any running. If she does travel with the Doctor, she has one up on him there.

He checks his watch and decides he can spare a few more hours away from headquarters. "We just saved the world. How about a celebratory drink? I'm buying," he adds.

"Excellent idea," she says, and this time, she does link her arm through his, though she keeps the rest of her body at a comfortable distance, only their arms and shoulders brushing together every once in awhile. It's just as well, really. He's taken, these days.

He steers them to the pub. They're two pints in when the Doctor walks in, a worried expression on his face. Jack hasn't seen this face yet, but he'd know the Doctor anywhere. He likes this incarnation already: the tweed is archaically sexy, and that's appropriate enough for the Doctor no matter what face he has. He sees Jack first and smiles, but it's obviously forced, and Jacks sighs into his pint glass.

"You," the Doctor says, glaring at Andromeda. "You! I can't believe you. What did I say to you?"

"You said, 'Don't wander off,'" she says, shrugging at him before she polishes off her pint. "And I didn't _wander_ , not exactly. Wandering implies an aimless kind of no-destination-in-mind sort of thing. I was _exploring_ , it's much more purposeful."

"And just what was your purpose, _exactly_ ," the Doctor bites out, glaring at Jack, who tries to look innocent, which is a lost cause from the start and he knows it.

"I just wanted a coffee, but then I found something interesting," she says, inclining her head at her Jack. She pulls her sonic from her pocket and brandishes it at the Doctor. "Look at these readings, they're fascinating!"

Jack peers over her shoulder. "Wait, did you let me buy you drinks so you could _scan_ me?"

"It's nothing personal," she says, looking at her sonic and then over at him. "Oh, well, I suppose for you it is. Sorry."

"Andromeda Brook," the Doctor sighs, and she hops off the barstool and tosses off a loose salute.

"Yes, yes, back to the TARDIS," she grumbles, "don't touch anything, don't wander off, don't have any fun, et cetera, et cetera."

"No _exploring_ , either," he cautions.

"But look at him," she says, gesturing at Jack. "Really _look_. He doesn't have an end! How does he _do_ that?"

He could let this go on, but he feels compelled to interrupt. "You know, I'm sitting right here," Jack points out. "You could just ask."

"Not right now, Jack," they say together, and that decides it for him: they have to be related, there's just no possible way that she's human.

"Wait, you know him?" she demands, hands on her hips.

"Er," says the Doctor. "Yes."

"Of course. I discover something interesting and you've already seen it," she sighs, then turns to Jack and gives him a half-shrug. "Thanks for the drinks, anyway, Captain."

"Anytime, Andi," Jack drawls, and the Doctor narrows his eyes at him, but in an almost-resigned kind of way, like he's been waiting for this to happen, and he wonders what exactly the Doctor knows about this situation that he doesn't.

"Don't call me that," she calls, which seems to cheer the Doctor up considerably. She doesn't even bother to turn around as she saunters away.

"Teenagers," the Doctor mutters, but he looks after her fondly enough, and the look on his face is so affectionately _paternal_ that Jack would bet all the money in his pockets that somehow, the Doctor has managed to wind up with a daughter.

"She is, isn't she?" he asks, pointing at Andromeda and back to the Doctor. "She's your dau--"

"Not a word to anyone," the Doctor interrupts, shaking a finger at Jack, "or you'll have River Song to deal with."

"Yes, sir," he replies, saluting. "Look, out of curiosity, how old is she?"

"Right, then, I'm calling River," the Doctor snaps, fishing in his pockets, and Jack waves his hands in front of his chest.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Jack protests.

"Of course you didn't," the Doctor says, glaring again. "And you've got a nice beachfront property on Hoth you'd like to sell me, as well."

"Seriously, I'm just curious what a Time Lord teenager looks like," Jack insists. "Assuming that she is, you know, a Time Lord."

"Yes," the Doctor says proudly. "And she's ninety-seven. As of last week."

"Ninety-seven is still a teenager?"

"As far as I'm concerned," the Doctor says. He drums his fingers on the bar. "You can just keep away from her, please and thank you, no matter what age she happens to be."

Jack just sighs and drains his pint glass. "Hey, no worries, okay? I'll just be here, saving the world, for the next several thousand years."

The Doctor smiles at him then, and it's more of a genuine smile this time. "There's a good chap," he says. "Carry on, then! We won't get in your way."

"Doctor," he calls, just as the Doctor reaches the door. "Do you know something I don't?"

"Many things, but I won't be imparting them to you. Spoilers, generally," the Doctor says mysteriously. He taps his watch and gives Jack a little wave. "Love to stay, but must be off, I'm afraid, lots to do, you know how it is."

"Goodbye, Doctor," Jack says.

"Until next time," the Doctor replies.

\+ + + +

It's always a fun surprise, letting his daughter pilot the TARDIS. For one thing, he gets the impression that the TARDIS always goes exactly where she wants them to go. For another, she has inherited a very healthy sense of adventure from both of her parents, and wherever they end up, it's never dull.

"Right! Where have you taken us? No, wait, let me guess," the Doctor says, when she opens her mouth to speak. "The Bone Meadows. No, that's your mum. The silver fields of Luna XI? The great underwater labyrinth of Saturn in the eleventh century?"

For answer, she just pushes open the door of the TARDIS. He grins, expecting any number of exciting times and places.

"We're... in Amy and Rory's backyard," he says, glumly, but he's only disappointed for a moment. Then he brightens. "Amy and Rory! Good old Ponds! Probably long overdue for a visit, eh?"

"It's not a visit, Dad," she says, and his shoulders slump.

"You're going," he says, dropping his hands from the console.

"I'm going," she confirms. She leans against the open TARDIS door. "It's time."

"But why?" he demands, stomping over to her, arms flailing about. "There's so many places we haven't gone yet! The Eye of Orion! The dinosaur planet! You're giving that up, and for what? What will you _do_? Live sequentially? That's, that's, that's dreadful, it's _boring_! And you'll have, well, you'll have centuries and centuries of it! Nothing but dull, ridiculous human stuff."

"I _like_ dull ridiculous human stuff," she says, poking him squarely in the shoulder. "And so do you, and you know it, with your little shops and your insane collection of touristy hats."

"Those hats are cool," he mumbles, tugging uselessly on his bow tie.

"I didn't say they weren't," she sighs.

"You can't, you just can't, you're like me," the Doctor protests.

"That's just it," she sighs. "That's what you've never understood. I'm not like you."

"Of course you are," he says, his hands over his hearts, and she shakes her head.

"That's not what I mean, Dad."

"Then what? I mean, certainly, we have our differences--"

"I'm not _running_ from anything," she says.

"Oh," he says simply.

"And I'm just as stuck here as I will be out there, you know." She gestures to herself. "This is it, this is me, for centuries and who knows how long. What's it going to be in two hundred years if I want to go have a coffee with someone? 'Oi, Dad, can I borrow the TARDIS?'"

"Depends on who it is you're drinking the coffee with," he grumbles. "Stay away from Jack, if you please."

She rolls her eyes, but she makes no comment, and he sighs.

"No talking you out of it, is there?"

"I'm afraid not," she says. She looks over her shoulder at Amy and Rory's backyard, then casts her eyes around the TARDIS. "I'll miss you, of course."

"Well, when you find you have too many unimportant days to manage, you know where I'll be," he says, gesturing around the TARDIS.

"I _want_ unimportant days, because none of them are, really, if you live them the right way," she says, and he smiles sadly at her.

"You grew up," he says quietly, reaching out to tug gently on a bit of her long red hair. "When did you do that? I'm certain I told you not to."

"Never have been good at doing what I'm told," she replies, smiling up at him. "Can't imagine where I got that from."

"Hmmph," he grumps, and frowns at her. "But really now. What will you do?"

"What else? Study," she says brightly. "I'm thinking physics. Nuclear. Or engineering, maybe, they could do with some help down here, and yes, not too much, you know, don't worry, I won't get into too much trouble. Well. Maybe a little trouble. It'd hardly be me, if I didn't."

He looks at her, arms crossed, clearly skeptical. "That's it? Just study?"

"I thought I'd get a degree or something. PhD. Because what this family really needs is another Doctor, although, you know, that's not a bad idea, exactly. We'll never even have to edit Rule One. Think of how marvelously ambiguous that phrase will be with three of us."

"You've been planning this for awhile, haven't you," he says, and it's clearly not a question.

"Since we ran into Jack, what, ten years ago, now," she admits, and holds up a finger, forestalling any parental outbursts or admonitions. "And before you start, it's not even remotely like that, though I do admit I'm a little thrilled at the possibility of befriending someone I won't outlive."

"Maybe we do live too long," he sighs.

"Oh, flip the other switch, Dad, maudlin is my least favorite setting," she says, and wraps her arms around him.

"We're hugging now?"

"Yes. And this isn't goodbye, you big idiot," she says, sniffling, her face pressed against the scratchy tweed of his jacket. "Stop acting like it's goodbye, you'll see me again."

"Please," he says, as she turns to go. "Be careful. If anyone were to find out what you are--"

"Then I guess I'll start running," she says, grinning. "I've had plenty of practise."  
She salutes him with her sonic and opens the door, calling, "Geronimo," as she steps outside.

"Geronimo," he says, to the empty air, long after she's left.  



End file.
